Energy and Economic Assessment of Soda and Organosolv Biorefinery Processes

摘要

The paper industry is facing the necessity of improving process efficiency, especially inrnterms of energy and raw materials consumption. In most of the cases, the production ofrnpulp and paper generates an energy surplus that is often not conveniently used. Thernactual trend is to convert traditional pulp and paper processes in biorefineries where allrncomponents of lignocellulosic materials can be converted in added value products suchrnas bioethanol, lignin, cellulose whiskers and other chemicals than can replace therncommon petroleum based products. In the present work, the energetic and economicalrnefficiencies of two biorefinery processes were studied using the simulation softwarernAspen Plus. Soda and organosolv processes were used for raw material delignification.rnThe simulation design and treatment sequences (reaction, solid fraction washing,rnproducts recovery and liquid fraction processing) are similar for both processes. Massrnand energy balances were established and the processes were compared in terms ofrnyield, solvents/reactants recovery and energy consumption based on the same amount ofrnprocessed raw material. In this way, the development of rigorous simulations allowed torndetermine the economical feasibility of both biorefinery models, and to establish thernoptimal operation conditions for both processes.